As i've already mentioned, my sister in law had offered to lend me her doppler. I refused, but i did accept using it once at the inlaws house.
I received word yesterday that she had dropped it off at the inlaws house and we arranged to go and visit today so we turned up at about 10am.
I didn't feel in a rush to use it and time passed with the usual topics of conversation, including the sad departure of James' granny, until unexpectedly my sister in law turned up.
Things seemed a bit cool between us at first but i really am starting to warm to her, especially since her kind interest in my pregnancy, and yet when she turned up today i suddenly felt a bit pressured regarding the doppler. It was a bit like i had an audience. The inlaws were showing more interest too and even encouraging me to take the device home to keep for a while, to which i replied i just know myself and that i'll be using it all the time.
SIL admitted that she had done just that during her first pregnancy and while i don't think there is anything particularly wrong with that (expect possibly upsetting baby), i feel that my mind would always be thinking about the next time i'd use the doppler.
Fortunately during SIL giving me instructions she suggested that i should lie down to use the doppler so when the time came we retreated to the privacy of a bedroom upstairs.
I didn't feel particularly nervous or anything because i seemed to have developed an ability to remind myself that nothing going wrong means that everything is alright and actuall believe it!
So i pull my pants down and get onto the bed and pass James the camcorder to capture the special moment. I put a few dollops of gel in random low places on my stomach and start moving it around and around and around and except for an extremely brief rapid heartbeat that didn't display a BPM (beats per minute) and a couple of 70's which must have been mine - nothing!
I kept on trying, becoming increasingly frustrated while James started to look increasingly concerned. I think about 20 minutes must have passed and i just wanted to smash the doppler into tiny pieces.
Instead i gave the doppler to James and challenged him to do a better job.
Of course, he did.
Within a couple of minutes he found the heartbeat and it was so clear and enduring. Where the fuck was the camera?!?!?!
So, camera in my hand, he attempted to find it again and although it took longer he did eventually manage to pick it up and hold onto it for long enough for the BPM to be picked up and it was 150.
That is apparently slap bang in the middle of the normal range of 120-180.
I wish it was as magical a moment as i'd anticipated but to be honest it was a bloody nightmare and i feel completely validated in my decision not to hold onto it for a while.
Dopplers are shit. It was a good one too!
Yes, baby is alive, but it was so stressful and i figured he was alive anyway. I'd even suggst anyone with concerns goes for an ultrasound of even to the midwife for a doppler scan. I would not recommend DIY dopplers at all.
Anyway, so here is the baby's heartbeat!
https://vimeo.com/71358253
It was a movie but i turned it into an audio file to which James added some diabolically crap text graphic. Unfortunately due to me holding the camera in the end, instead of seeing my bump you'd get an eye full of my hairy black knickers (how the dog hair gets there i don't know!) and my thunder thighs (give me a break, i'm 5'2 with a 6' appetite) and at one point i'm pretty sure i can make out a huge varicose vein that i didn't even know was there!
No comments:
Post a Comment